The lands in the north of Britain in what we now called Scotland, then
occupied by Celtic settlers, never became part of the Roman empire, in
spite of being invaded several times. The northernmost frontier of the
empire was fortified for only a few years after the battle of Mons
Graupius in AD 84, when the Caledonians were defeated by Gnaeus Julius
Agricola. Work on the construction of an alternative frontier,
represented by the elaborate defenses of the Antonine Wall, began in
about 142. It was maintained hardly longer than 25 years, and by 180
the Roman invaders had retreated back to Hadrian's Wall. After further
Celtic activity, a temporary truce was negotiated personally by the
emperor Septimus Severus in 209. Thereafter, until their empire began
to collapse, the Romans maintained a fragile hold on Hadrian's Wall in
the face of furious attacks by marauding Picts and Scotti (Scots), and
a combined operation by land and sea in 367 against the whole of Roman
Britain by the northern Celts in an alliance with the Franks and
Saxons. "The Last Frontier" is a fresh account of these momentous
events and the background to them, based on a reassessment of the
original sources and on recent archaeological evidence. Extracts from
Latin texts, including Tacitus, who wrote a biography of Agricola, are
in new translations. The author also sets the involvement of Rome in
the context of the development of Scotland from prehistoric times to
nationhood.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781906476366
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
Neil Wilson Publishing
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter